Mysterious Disappearances Chapter 20

By Nirupama Akella

‘So, what are you doing?,’
asked Singh in his reassuring gentle Grandfather tone.

‘Helping you!’, replied Lata
shortly chewing her gum.

K.S. Singh surveyed her
quietly- out of all three of them, he had
found Lata Naidu to be the reticent one—not at all cooperative in any way! In
fact she had been positively rude to him!

He sighed, ‘So, you were
giving a Presentation that evening?’

‘Yeah, on Globalization and
Technology- for nearly an hour- in the Audio Visual Room, upstairs above the
bookshop!’, she looked questioningly at Singh- who swallowed and thought
angrily- did she think he was a blinking
idiot?

‘Who were there?’

‘Don’t you know all this?
One of your men grilled me with questions for an hour as if I made Shiksha
disappear!’

“Patience, Kundan, Patience,” Singh told himself and
smiled between clenched teeth- this girl
needed a good spanking!”

‘Yes, but you wouldn’t mind
telling me again, would you?’

‘Sure! I don’t mind- not all
were there….you see the fete was over and so was our festival! The evening was
reserved only for seminars and presentations- and only some had been invited
with embossed passes and all that! The entire staff was there- Nandita,
Sister’s secretary left early and I thought
that my presentation was going awful! Then…,’ here she frowned and Singh waited
patiently, ‘Someone else left- lets see…….hmm Sister! That’s it, Sister
Prudence left at around six minutes before the presentation ended! Do you need
to know anything else??’

‘Have you also seen this
light?’

‘Oh, the basement light! NO!
We- Jyotsana and I and Shiksha woke up that Saturday morning at four just to
see the light but it didn’t appear…..and someone said, it was me……it was
weekend shy, ‘her Lata giggled hysterically, ‘You see, she had told us the previous
night about the light and I had said it was a ghost!’

‘Was she worried?’

‘Hey, I told that Constable
all this but evidently you like to hear repeats!,’ Singh gritted his teeth,
‘Yeah we all were worried!’

‘Who normally goes to the
building?’

‘Well…the cleaning ladies
do! What they clean, they only know! Shiksha and I were always saying that it didn’t matter because the floor always
looked the same- hmm….Shanta used to clean this place but now Shalu does! Then sometimes,
all of us, the entire college comes here for mass prayers but usually it is
Sister and her group who come here every morning at six to pray!’

‘Anyone could walk in here
without anyone knowing!’

‘I guess people do see, I do
but it always gets stuck in the back of the mind! Hey,’ she bent down to remove
a shiny scrap of paper wedged between the two floor tiles, ‘Is this a clue?’

Pathak straightened and
forced his face into an expression of unlimited kindness, ‘Bahadur,’ he began
softly, ‘we are looking for something that Shiksha Malhotra found that day! Do
you understand? Do you?,’ Pathak thundered.

Bahadur kept a straight
face, ‘Yes, Sir but what was she searching for??’

Kishen Pathak sighed- he
must have done some great unforgivable sin in his previous life- that’s why he
had to put up with Bahadur!

‘I don’t know- if we look,
maybe we will see a clue!’

Bahadur nodded somberly- if
the CID were at sea what was he, an ordinary police chowkidaar going to find?
He turned his attention to the wooden panels and began tapping them one by one,
humming an old folk song. Kishen Pathak was behind him bending at the floor. “Maybe he ought to take up cleaning floors
as a professional career,” chuckled Bahadur to himself, going forward methodically. “This was a complete waste of time- they
were,” he reflected, “doing this for
the seventh time!”

He bent over a small wooden
panel below the pulpit and tapped- it sounded hollow and so he tapped again,
this time pressing hard- “and next time,”
he thought savagely, “I will use me
truncheon!” He didn’t notice that the wall next to him had slid open
invitingly but still humming, he straightened and then looked in surprise! He
wasn’t standing in the Old
Church anymore but had
flown and taken position in some old brick fortress- he was for the first time
hallucinating! He blinked hard and looked again- no, he wasn’t hallucinating
but was still in sound mental condition! It was just that the wall next to him
had slid back making it look like A completely different place!

‘Sahib, I have found
something!’, he delivered this piece of information to a scowling Pathak whose
tie had become wedged in between two loose tiles. ‘Absolutely fantastic! Now
come here and help me!’

‘Sahib, I think it is the
basement!’

Kishen Pathak forgot about
his silk tie and tried to look up which was quite difficult considering his
neck felt constricted and he felt like a noose was tightening around him- ‘it
is the entrance down to the basement,’ he croaked, ‘Very good Bahadur! How did
you find it?’

‘I pressed this panel and it
just happened, ‘said Bahadur pointing to the small panel located on the stem of
the pulpit, ‘Come on, Sahib!’

Kishen Pathak reluctantly
freed himself on his silk noose and followed the chowkidaar inside- down the
dusty steps and then Bahadur exclaimed, ‘A dead body, Sir!’

Kishen Pathak strained
forward and pulled up the back mask to reveal the pleasant surprised face of
Rajeev Ghosh. ‘Looks like the attacker surprised him which means he knew his
killer! And look at his hand he was
clutching something! Fascinating!’

Bahadur nodded- feeling
squeamish- the sight of a still body of a fellow human being was not
fascinating to him!

‘Sahib, I am feeling sick!’,
he squeaked.

‘Shut up and lets go inside
that room!’

Bahadur sighed but followed
reluctantly. Pathak opened the door and grimaced, ‘Here she is!’

Bahadur didn’t rise to the
bait uncharacteristically- he was feeling sick- the sight of the dead girl
looking so terrified, fearful was disconcerting to him!

‘Come on!’, Kishen Pathak
side stepped and went in further.

“All this is obviously fun for this donkey!,” Bahadur thought standing
firm near the dead body of Shiksha Malhotra. His feet were refusing to budge
and he was not going to persuade them! He was remembering the menace of evil
spirits and his village folk tales of the haunted spirits of the dead who had
been brutally killed before their time! He shuddered and closed his eyes,
muttering holy chants to himself to ward off the evil spirits!

‘Look, Shanta Ganshyam!
She’s dead too!’

There was a silence as
Junior Constable Pathak surveyed the third dead body then nimbly skipped,
‘Bahadur, you stay here…..while I go and get the others!’

‘Sahib, I am feeling sick!’,
Bahadur vainly tried to communicate his fear of dead bodies but Pathak was not
listening and on his way out opening the door. Bahadur sprang into action- he
desperately clutched Pathak’s hand and shrilly cried, ‘NO SAHIB! DON’T LEAVE ME
HERE!’

Kishen Pathak enjoyed Hindi
dramatic movie scenes where the pretty heroine clung to the arm of the angry
hero professing her undying love for him and begging him not to leave her-
these, he had often felt- constituted the unique distinguishing feature of
Hindi movies! Bahadur, he now thought had probably seen too many of them! The
way he was clinging on to his hand was shameful- at any moment now he expected
Bahadur to enact the second step of the scene- to burst into a tearful romantic
song! There was one major problem- Bahadur did not in the least look like any
pretty young Hindi heroine!- and Pathak himself had no intention of playing the
dashing angry hero to his old whining chowkidaar! There were a few other minor
points of order also, Pathak reflected- the scenery was all wrong! There were
no trees and no blue skies above! There
were not actors but serious responsible policemen conducting a murder
investigation- also, Pathak added mentally, there was no audience!

‘Bahadur! Get a hold of
yourself- this is not theatre OK! Leave me, Leave me,' and he vainly tried to shrug off Bahadur’s
hand who now spoke perfect gibberish, ‘NO Sahib, don’t leave me with the dead!
I know evil spirits are her and they will kill me too!,’ here his voice shook
with fear and Pathak sighed, ‘Sahib, if you leave me here, by the time you come
back, even I will be dead with blood all over me!’

Don’t be silly!!!’, Kishen
Pathak sternly admonished his chowkidaar, ‘you are talking complete nonsense. I
don’t want you to walk on air man, I just want you to sit here whilst I go and
get the others, OK,’ then more kindly, ‘see its all in the mind- if you keep on
saying to yourself, I am not afraid, you wont be afraid at all!’

And Pathak freed his wrist
from the desperate tight grasp and went out. Bahadur wiped the perspiration
beads from his forehead and squatted on the floor, mumbling all the time, “I AM NOT AFRAID, I AM NOT AFRAID, I AM NOT
AFRAID!- but now strangely now he was feeling more afraid! Like evil
spirits were dancing all about him! He swallowed hard- what was the idiot
doing? The rest of the men were just upstairs…he did not have to go Mumbai to
call them!” He shifted his weight from one foot to another and peered more
closely at the body of Shiksha Malhotra, then shivered slightly and went in
further- walking, he thought, might actually calm his nerves!”

Disclaimer: Many of the links on Induswomanwriting are affiliate/referral links. This means that if you click through them and make a purchase, IWW will be paid a small fee for referring you. These affiliate/referral fees are used to pay for the expenses of maintaining and running this site. Your use of these affiliate/referral links is greatly appreciated.